Blogs
Blog Archive
Found a Killer Asteroid? Who Ya Gonna Call?
Tim Spahr of the Minor Planet Center on Planetary Radio
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/07/08 04:19 CDT
Astronomer Timothy Spahr directs the Minor Planet Center, the global clearinghouse for asteroids, comets and other relatively small objects in the solar system, including moons. He also coordinates the Society's Shoemaker NEO grant program.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3355 - July 2, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/07/08 06:04 CDT
By Sol 3325 Opportunity has driven up onto the next "island" of rock, "Sutherland Point" and "Nobbys Head." On this sol Opportunity is only about 700 m from the goal, the mountains to the south.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/07/07 10:24 CDT | 9 comments
The south polar cap of Mars is riddled with strange landscapes.
Hubble captures time-lapse of comet ISON
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/05 04:28 CDT | 2 comments
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a series of images showing Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) plunging toward the sun.
Mars Exploration Rovers Mission Update: Opportunity Continues Sprint to Solander Point
Sols 3325 - 3354
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/07/04 04:04 CDT | 1 comments
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission celebrated its 10th anniversary of leaving Earth in June, as Opportunity continued the sprint to its next winter haven at Endeavour Crater.
PlanetVac Moving Forward
Meet the Team and Learn What They are Doing
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/07/03 01:23 CDT | 4 comments
Meet the PlanetVac team and learn their general plan and what they are doing now. PlanetVac is a newly started Planetary Society and Honeybee Robotics project to test a pneumatic system to sample planetary surfaces.
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/03 07:03 CDT
When Space Shuttle Discovery launched on its 1988 return-to-flight mission, it was a big moment for NASA and America.
Russian rocket crashes in spectacular explosion
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/02 07:11 CDT | 2 comments
A Russian Proton-M rocket veered off course and crashed in a nearby field shortly after liftoff from Baikonur, Kazahkstan.
Dawn Journal: Breaking Velocity Records
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2013/07/02 10:26 CDT | 7 comments
The indefatigable Dawn spacecraft is continuing its extraordinary interplanetary flight on behalf of inquisitive creatures on distant Earth. Progressing ever farther from Vesta, the rocky and rugged world it so recently explored, the ship is making good progress toward its second port of call, dwarf planet Ceres.
Planetary Radio: Don't Step in That Puddle!
The Strong Evidence for Water on the Moon
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/07/01 06:18 CDT
The Planetary Science Institute's Amanda Hendrix is the guest for our July 1 episode. She finds water in the least likely places, including Luna.
PlanetVac Project Underway
Planetary Society Sponsored Surface Sampling Project
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/07/01 02:56 CDT | 1 comments
The Planetary Society's PlanetVac project with Honeybee Robotics is now fully underway. Here we provide a just released statement by Honeybee, and an introduction to this lab test of a new planetary surface sampling system.
Deflecting the flames of a monster rocket
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/01 12:24 CDT | 3 comments
Work continues to prepare Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B for the Space Launch System, as a flame trench deflector originally built for the Space Shuttle is removed.
The Space Computer and the Beautiful Worlds
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/30 11:31 CDT | 2 comments
An "Up Goer 5" tribute to the Cassini mission.
ARKYD Kickstarter Finale Webcast
Sunday, June 30, 2013 from 3-7pm PT
Posted by Bill Nye on 2013/06/28 07:58 CDT | 1 comments
Bill Nye will be at Seattle's Museum of Flight Sunday, June 30, 2013 from 3-7pm PT for the closing celebration webcast of the Arkyd 100 space-based telescope project.
IRIS safely in orbit, ready to eye sun's atmosphere
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/28 06:01 CDT | 1 comments
IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft, was launched from Orbital Science Corporation's Stargazer carrier aircraft over the Pacific Ocean at 7:27 p.m PDT.
We Need Space-Based Detection of Threats, but NASA Shouldn't Pay for It
Reports from the AGU's Science Policy Conference
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/06/27 01:03 CDT | 5 comments
Early detection is a crucial step in preventing or mitigating threats from space, but it's not NASA's job.
Planetary Society Hangout: Arkyd Telescopes, Planetary Resources, Chris Lewicki
Thursday, Jun 27, noon PDT/1900 UTC
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/06/27 11:15 CDT | 2 comments
We talked to Chris Lewicki, President of Planetary Resources, about their upcoming Arkyd telescopes including one for the public, asteroid mining, and more. Hosted by Bruce Betts with Jennifer Vaughn.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/27 10:55 CDT | 9 comments
It had never occurred to me to think about geostationary satellites in Mars orbit before reading a new paper by Juan Silva and Pilar Romero. The paper shows that it takes a lot more work to maintain a stationary orbit at an arbitrary longitude at Mars than it does at Earth.
What would Earth's skies look like with Saturn's rings?
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/26 12:59 CDT | 3 comments
Illustrator and author Ron Miller visualizes what we would see in our skies if Saturn’s majestic rings circled the Earth.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/25 04:38 CDT | 6 comments
Meet some worlds that were nearly shattered, literally.
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